School's Out For Summer!

The end of July is here and our partner schools in Zambia are closing for the month of August. It’s not the end of their school year, like here in the UK, they have one more term to go, but they do have a month off :)

So, as our teachers at Janna, Greater Joy and Kawama School enjoy this quieter month ahead I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to them for all the incredible work they do each term. Some of the teachers have been at these schools for several years, a few from even before Beyond Ourselves started partnering with the schools and helping to provide a salary for them.

Their passion for teaching, for giving these children an opportunity to learn is inspiring and we are truly grateful to be working alongside them.

Thank you Teachers!

Here are a few pics of our wonderful teachers!

Beyond Ourselves Goes to Canada!

One of our team, Melissa, is from Winkler, Manitoba and is currently back there with Dan and their boys visiting friends and family for a few weeks after almost two years of living in Zambia. (And for those of you who know me, I’m never one to say no to a trip, so when Dan and Melissa invited me over to Canada for a week, the flights were booked and to Winkler I went!)

And we’re also never ones to miss an opportunity for an event, so this past Sunday we held a Beyond Ourselves fundraiser in Winkler Park!

Summer in the Prairies is usually beautifully sunny, but this Sunday was not! It was chilly and very wet – but we went ahead anyway (we were even prepared to do a ‘Drive thru’ service if the weather didn’t improve!).  A big thank you to the volunteers who put on their waterproof jackets and came to help us by serving the delicious food…

And a huge thank you to Gary and Connie Spenst and the Spenst Bros for supporting us, putting on the event and providing the amazing food. If you’ve not had a Spenst burger, you’re missing out!

Despite the weather, people came, ate the delicious food (including homemade desserts donated by friends and family) and gave generously to Beyond Ourselves.

The money raised is going to support the feeding programmes that we run at our partner schools in Zambia, providing meals every school day for nearly 1000 children. People were free to donate as much or as little as they liked and we have been overwhelmed with the generosity of everyone. Over $7600 has been given so far. That’s the equivalent of close to 19,000 meals that can be served in Zambia, or 760 children’s food for one month! Thank you to everyone who donated, we are so grateful for your support, kindness and generosity. We hoped you enjoyed the food, we know the children in Zambia will enjoy their school meals!

Thank you Winkler! I hope to see you again some time!